In 2001, the band remerged as Maroon 5, pursuing a different direction and adding guitarist Valentine.[3] The band signed with a subsidiary of J Records, Octone Records, and released their debut album Songs About Jane in June 2002. Aided by its lead single "Harder to Breathe", which received heavy airplay, the album peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 chart,[4] and went platinum in 2004. The band won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2005. In 2006, Dusick left the band after suffering from serious wrist and shoulder injuries and was replaced by Matt Flynn.

The band's second album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long was released in May 2007.[5] It reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart and the lead single, "Makes Me Wonder", became the band's first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2010, the band released their third album Hands All Over, to mixed reviews, re-releasing a year later to include the single "Moves like Jagger", which topped the Billboard Hot 100. In 2012, Carmichael left the group and was replaced by musician PJ Morton, as the band released their fourth album, Overexposed, with the song "One More Night", topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart for nine consecutive weeks.

In 2014, Carmichael rejoined the band along with Morton to record their fifth album V (pronounced: "five"), with the band signed a new label, Interscope Records[6] and Levine's own label 222 Records.[7] Following the release of V, it reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart. In 2016, Maroon 5 recruited their long-time collaborator and former Phantom Planet member Sam Farrar, as the band continued with their sixth album Red Pill Blues, was released in November 2017, with the single "Girls Like You" peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's fourth number one single. Maroon 5 has sold more than 70 million singles and 20 million albums, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists.[8][9][10]

Contents

Adam Levine was introduced to Ryan Dusick by a mutual friend and guitarist, Adam Salzman. Levine was 15 years old and Dusick was 16.[11] Three of the five members of the band started playing together at age 12. The four original members of the band met while attending Brentwood School in Los Angeles.[12][13] While attending Brentwood School, Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael joined up with Mickey Madden and Ryan Dusick to form Kara's Flowers,[14] a rock band. The name was taken from a girl that went to their high school that the band had a "collective crush" on.[13] In 1997, when the band was playing at a beach party in Malibu, independent producer Tommy Allen heard them play and offered to manage them and record a complete record with his partner, songwriter John DeNicola, who is known for his work on Dirty Dancing (1987) – including "(I've Had) The Time of My Life". Producer Rob Cavallo's management team heard the record Allen and DeNicola produced, which eventually led Cavallo to offer them a deal with Reprise Records, re-recording the album.[15] However, after the release of The Fourth World, during Levine and Madden's senior year of high school in 1997, it had morphed into a band with a style reminiscent of 1960s Britpop.[13] Despite high expectations from the band and record company, the album failed to catch on and their lead single, "Soap Disco", was a failure.[16] According to Levine, the failure of the album was "a huge disappointment" that nearly led them to break up.[13][17] The album sold around 5,000 copies and the band was dropped after six months in early 1998.[18]

Dusick and Madden attended college locally at UCLA, while Levine and Carmichael relocated to the East coast to attend Five Towns College, in Dix Hills, Long Island, New York.[19] While Levine and Carmichael were in New York, they began to take notice of the urban music surrounding them and later let the style influence the songs they wrote.[20]

The band returned to the music industry again in 2001.[17] Producer Tim Sommer signed them to a demo deal with MCA Records and produced three tracks with them in Los Angeles in the middle of 2001 with Mark Dearnley engineering. Against Sommer's advice, MCA declined to pick up the band, and these tracks were never released. The band put together a demo that was rejected by several labels, before falling into the hands of Octone Records executives James Diener, Ben Berkman and David Boxenbaum.[17] While looking for talent for the Octone label, Berkman was given a bunch of demos by the brother of a former colleague at Columbia Records and the song that caught his attention was "'Sunday Morning'" which he referred it as a "genius song".[18] Berkman was surprised the song was credited to Kara's Flowers, because the band sounded completely different from the one he had heard while at Warner Bros. Records.[21]

Berkman encouraged Diener and Boxenbaum to fly out to Los Angeles to watch a showcase gig at The Viper Room for the four-piece Kara's Flowers.[18] After watching Levine onstage, they were convinced. Berkman told HitQuarters he believed what the band needed was a "fifth member to play the guitar and free up the singer, so he could be the star I perceived him to be."[18] Octone immediately insisted that the band change its name to break with its pop past.[18] Also, the label began looking for a full-time guitarist to enable Levine to focus on performing as the frontman. James Valentine (from the L.A. band Square) was recruited for the job.[17] On his joining the band, Valentine commented: "I became friends with them and we sort of started jamming together, it was very much like I was cheating on my band, we were having sort of an affair and I eventually quit my other band to join up with them."[17]

Between the time that we started making the album [Songs About Jane] in 2001 and the time the album reached the crest of its success in 2004, we went from being starving musicians wondering what the future held to riding a wave of success beyond our wildest expectations.

—Ryan Dusick, Maroon 5's original drummer, who officially left the band in 2006 due to injuries to his shoulders and wrists sustained from constant touring[22][23]

After recording for two years,[45] Maroon 5's second album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long, was released worldwide in May 2007 by A&M Octone Records.[46] Levine described the follow-up to Songs About Jane is "sexier and stronger",[47] gaining inspiration from iconic 80s artists such as Prince, Shabba Ranks, Michael Jackson and Talking Heads.[48] Ann Powers writing for Los Angeles Times said It Won't Be Soon Before Long is "An icy-hot blend of electro-funk and blue-eyed soul that works its cruel streak with the confidence of Daniel Craig's James Bond".[49] Before its release, "Makes Me Wonder" was the No. 1 selling single and video on iTunes.[47] It was also the No. 1 selling album, with more than 50,000 digital pre-sales.[47] After its release, the album broke iTunes sales records its week of release, selling over 101,000 albums.[50] The first single, "Makes Me Wonder," was released to radio March 27, 2007. The song debuted at number 84 on the Billboard Hot 100, the lowest debuting single of the group's five chart entries. In the first week of May, the single skyrocketed from a lowly position of No. 64 to No. 1, the biggest jump in Billboard history at the time.[51] "Makes Me Wonder" has also achieved No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs, Pop 100, and Hot Dance Club Play charts.[52] Also, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 200, knocking Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight, with a record breaking 429,000 copies.[53]

Levine stated that he believed the band was reaching its peak and may make one more album before disbanding.[64] He explained, "Eventually I want to focus on being a completely different person because I don't know if I want to do this into my 40s and 50s and beyond, like the Rolling Stones".[65] Levine later dispelled any rumors of the band breaking up, saying: "I love what I do and think that, yes, it might be tiring and complicated at times [but] we don't have any plans on disbanding any time soon".[66]

During a promotion by Coca-Cola in March 2011, the band participated in a special studio session during which, with the help of musician PJ Morton, they only had 24 hours to write a completely original song. After their time was up, the song "Is Anybody Out There" was released on the Coca-Cola website for free download.[77]

On July 12, 2011, the band re-released the album Hands All Over just to include their summer hit "Moves like Jagger", featuring Christina Aguilera.[78][79] The song premiered live on The Voice on June 21 and reached the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 2011. Frontman Levine was also featured in the Gym Class Heroes' song "Stereo Hearts", which peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The band toured with Train for the summer of 2011, from July 22 to September 24.[80] On September 8, 2011, Jesse Carmichael stated the band was likely to begin recording its next album within the year.[81] On October 1, 2011, the band performed live at the Rock in Rio concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[82] Maroon 5 was a last hour addition, chosen to fill the vacant spot left by Jay-Z after he cancelled his appearance for personal reasons.[83] The band launched a Snapple flavor named "Tea Will Be Loved" in support of Feeding America in September 2011.[84]

On March 9, 2012, Maroon 5 announced that Jesse Carmichael would take a break from performing with the group for an undetermined amount of time to focus more on his studies of "music and the healing arts". The band continued to work on their fourth studio album Overexposed, which was eventually released on June 26, 2012, with the help of keyboardist and background vocalist PJ Morton, who had been touring with them since 2010 and who became a full-time band member after this announcement, as Morton gained little success as an R&B artist.[87] Levine stated that Overexposed is their "most diverse and poppiest album yet".[88] On April 16, 2012, the band premiered the first single from the album "Payphone", featuring Wiz Khalifa, on the reality competition television show The Voice, in which Levine is one of the coaches.[89] The song debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, eventually peaking at number two.

At the start of their Overexposed Tour in South America, Maroon 5 introduced the newest addition in the band to the audience: their old and close friend Sam Farrar on guitars, occasionally on the bass guitar, percussion, additional keyboards, backing vocals and providing samples and other special effects (using the MPC),[91] until became an official member in 2016. Farrar co-wrote and co-produced a few of the band's songs on almost all of their studio albums and also remixed their song "Woman" (from the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack) on Call and Response: The Remix Album, released in 2008.[92]

On November 27, 2012, the band released "Daylight", the third single from the album. To promote the song, the band launched a video project called "The Daylight Project". The project encouraged fans to film their own segments for inclusion in the official music video for "Daylight", that would be directed by Jonas Åkerlund. "Daylight" was performed for the first time as a single on November 8, 2012, during an episode of the American version of The Voice and the official video was released on December 11, 2012.[93][94] A little over 4 months later in the first week of April 2013, "Daylight" reached No. 1 on the Mainstream top 40, setting a record for the most No. 1's held by a group in over 20 years.
[95]

In April 2013, James Valentine said the band was in the studio recording songs for the upcoming fifth studio album: "The stuff we're working on now, it definitely has gone maybe a little darker in its sound, maybe back a little bit more to what we kind of did on Songs About Jane, but at this point we do have all kinds of different songs and it is early".[100]

On April 15, 2014, Jesse Carmichael confirmed that his hiatus from the band was complete and he reunited with the band in time to record.[101]

On May 19, 2014, it was announced that the band would release their fifth album, V (pronounced: "five") on September 2, 2014, through 222 Records and Interscope Records. The first single, "Maps", was released on June 16, 2014.[102][103] The single peaked number 6 on the Hot 100 chart.[104] After releasing the album, it reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart on September 20, 2014. The album was also released on a limited-edition ZinePak.[105][106]V received mixed reviews from critics. Brad Wete, writing for Billboard, said: "Levine's hummingbird vocals and passionate delivery are as earnest as they were on their 2002 debut Songs About Jane."[107]

On August 10, 2014, the band headlined the Hyundai Card City Break, a rock festival in South Korea.[108][109] Maroon 5 also performed during the 2014 iTunes Festival at the Roundhouse in London, England, on September 11, 2014 (all of the concerts played as part of the festival were filmed and webcast live, around the world).[110] The second single from V, "Animals", was released on August 25, 2014 and peaked at number 3 on the Hot 100 chart.[104] It was featured in the promotional advertisement of the 2015 Kia Soul.[111]

"Sugar" was released as the third single from the album on January 13, 2015.[112] It reached number 7 in the UK Singles Chart and peaked at Number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is also featured in a Nissan commercial.[113]

The band released their first greatest hits album, Singles, on September 25, 2015, through 222 and Interscope.[118][119][120] It contains 12 singles taken from their previous studio albums.[121]

In November 2015, guitarist James Valentine spoke about the band's strategy moving onto their sixth studio album, saying the group wanted "to make a more traditional record next ... like the way we made Songs About Jane, just sitting in a room with our instruments and slugging it out. It's been fun to experiment on the last couple of records with the more electronic sounds, but maybe we've gone as far as we can with that for now."[122]

On January 13, 2017, Adam Levine revealed that the band is working on their sixth studio album.[123] According to Levine, the album will be released "soonish", and will be R&B-influenced.[124][125] On August 13, 2017, Levine announced at the 2017 Teen Choice Awards, that the album will be released in November.[126][127]

On October 4, 2017, Maroon 5 revealed their sixth album, Red Pill Blues, the name was inspired by the 1999 science fiction film, The Matrix.[128] The album was released on November 3, 2017[129] and like the band's previous two albums, Red Pill Blues received mixed reviews due to the band's overwhelming pop direction. This album includes three singles: "What Lovers Do", "Wait", and "Girls Like You". "Girls Like You", featuring Cardi B, spent seven consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The two songs, "Don't Wanna Know" and "Cold", were both released first as stand-alone singles and are featured only in the album's deluxe edition.[130]

I think the classic Maroon 5 song is minor, and it has some funk, Nile Rodgers-style guitar and the lyrics are probably about getting your heart broken. So minor, funk and heartbreak -- that's the Maroon 5 formula.

Adam Levine has stated: "Everything that's written and performed and put together pretty much comes from us. I just think people would be surprised to know that we're a self-contained unit. We're a band that does their own thing. There's no puppet master."[147] However, in an article about the songwriter and producer Benny Blanco, it is revealed that at least some of the band's songs, such as "Moves like Jagger," are the product of efforts by, or collaborations with, professional songwriters and producers.[148] In the same article, Levine says, "It's almost as if [Benny Blanco] has the Midas touch in putting the right people together at the right time to create a musical moment. He's about the collaboration. And he's so good at nailing down who does everything best."[149]

The band's style changes from album to album. Songs About Jane consists of songs about Levine's ex-girlfriend Jane Herman. On It Won't Be Soon Before Long, however, the songs are less personal and are more electric with more use of synthesizers, creating a retro feel. Hands All Over continues the band's lost love theme, along with songs about infatuation and was re-released in 2011, with the hit single "Moves like Jagger", an electropop song which represents a drastic change in the band's sound, with more of a dance feel to it. "It was one of those songs that was definitely a risk," Levine said. "It's a bold statement. We've never really released a song like that. But it's exciting to do something different, do something new. I'm just glad that everyone likes it."[155] James Valentine called Overexposed "our most 'pop' record ever and we weren't shy about really going for it."[156] They also have experimented with new wave[157][158][159] and disco[160][161] sounds on several albums. Their early work as Kara's Flowers has been tagged as having a grunge sound a la Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Stone Temple Pilots, among others.[162]

Hands All Over, the band's third studio album, which was released in September 2010, peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 charts. In 2011, the album was re-released and supported by the single "Moves like Jagger", a song featuring American singer Christina Aguilera. The song became the band's second single to reach number one on the Hot 100 chart; it has sold over 14.4 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles worldwide.[170] The band released their fourth studio album, Overexposed, in June 2012. The album peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 chart. The first two singles from the album "Payphone" and "One More Night", were both international hits and peaked at two and one on the Hot 100 chart respectively.[171] "One More Night", managed to beat Psy's "Gangnam Style" by reaching number one on Billboard Hot 100 and stayed tied with Carly Rae Jepsen's hit single "Call Me Maybe" for most weeks at #1 in 2012.[90]

Since 2008, Maroon 5 has partnered with environmental non-profit REVERB to green their tours and engage fans to take action for the environment.

Maroon 5 has been a longtime supporter of Aid Still Required (ASR). After contributing the live version of "She Will Be Loved" to ASR's All Star CD in support of the survivors of the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami,[179][180] Maroon 5 went on to record a public service announcement for ASR about work that still needed to be done in Haiti. Maroon 5 has participated in various ASR social media campaigns[181] and Levine has donated a meet and greet on the set of The Voice to raise funds for various ASR programs.[182]

In 2006, Maroon 5 were awarded an Environmental Media Award, due to donating their 2005 North American tour income to a global environment organization, called "Global Cool".[184]

In 2011, Maroon 5 (along with PJ Morton, who was the band's touring member at the time) took part in a project named "24 Hour Session" with Coca-Cola. The band wrote and recorded the song "Is Anybody Out There?" in 24 hours. After the project ended, the track was made available on the Coca-Cola website. It was also announced that if the song would be downloaded more than 100,000 times, Coca-Cola would donate to Africa for clean water.[185]

Adam Levine, whose brother is openly gay, is an outspoken supporter of same sex marriage and LGBT rights.[186] In 2011, he made a video on Maroon 5's official YouTube account in support of the It Gets Better Project.[187] In January 2012, he announced that Maroon 5 had changed the location of their post-Grammy Awards show because of the "unnamed Los Angeles restaurant's backing of Proposition 8".[186]

On June 25, 2016, Maroon 5 partnered with UNICEF to launch #Maroon5Day to mark the 14th anniversary of the release of their first album Songs About Jane. Fans were encouraged to donate to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.[188] It was announced that Maroon 5 will match up to $25,000 in donations to help children in need.[189]

^Along with 14 other artists who donated tracks to the album including Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt and Norah Jones, Maroon 5 donated the live recording of "She Will Be Loved" to ASR's All-Star CD to support victims in the aftermath of the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami.